Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It honors an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role while working within the film industry. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year's Best Supporting Actor winner.
At the 9th Academy Awards in 1937, Gale Sondergaard was the first winner of this award for her role as Faith Paleologus in Anthony Adverse. Originally, winners in both supporting acting categories were awarded plaques. In 1944 at the 16th ceremony, winners received statuettes. Nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the actors branch of AMPAS. Winners are selected by a plurality vote from all eligible voting members of the Academy.
Dianne Wiest and Shelley Winters have received the most awards in this category with two awards each. Despite never winning, Thelma Ritter was nominated on six occasions, more than any other actress in this category. In 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first black person to win an award in any of the four acting categories, for Gone with the Wind. In 1958, Miyoshi Umeki became the first Asian actress to win an Oscar, for Sayonara. In 1961, Rita Moreno became the first Hispanic actress to win an Academy Award for West Side Story. At age 10, Tatum O'Neal became the youngest actress to be nominated, and subsequently win, for Paper Moon at the 1974 ceremony. Although several other young girls whose ages have been within weeks or months of O'Neal's age at the time of nominations, her record has held firm for youngest nominee to date as well. And in 1985, at age 77, Peggy Ashcroft became the oldest winner in this category for A Passage to India. Gloria Stuart remains the category's oldest nominee, at age 87. In 2023, Jamie Lee Curtis won the Oscar for her role as Deirdre Beaubeirdre in Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Winners and nominees
In the following table, the years are listed as per Academy convention, and generally correspond to the year of film release in Los Angeles County; the ceremonies are always held the following year. For the first five ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned twelve months, from August 1 to July 31. For the 6th ceremony held in 1934, the eligibility period lasted from August 1, 1932, to December 31, 1933. Since the 7th ceremony held in 1935, the period of eligibility became the full previous calendar year from January 1 to December 31.
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
Multiple wins and nominations
Individuals who received two Best Supporting Actress awards:
Individuals receiving three or more Best Supporting Actress nominations:
Age superlatives
Films with multiple Supporting Actress nominations
Winners are in bold.
Gone with the Wind (1939) -- Olivia de Havilland and Hattie McDaniel
The Little Foxes (1941) -- Patricia Collinge and Teresa Wright
Mrs. Miniver (1942) -- May Whitty and Teresa Wright
The Song of Bernadette (1943) -- Gladys Cooper and Anne Revere
Mildred Pierce (1945) -- Eve Arden and Ann Blyth
Gentleman's Agreement (1947) -- Celeste Holm and Anne Revere
I Remember Mama (1948) -- Barbara Bel Geddes and Ellen Corby
Come to the Stable (1949) -- Celeste Holm and Elsa Lanchester
Pinky (1949) -- Ethel Barrymore and Ethel Waters
All About Eve (1950) -- Celeste Holm and Thelma Ritter
The High and the Mighty (1954) -- Jan Sterling and Claire Trevor
The Bad Seed (1956) -- Eileen Heckart and Patty McCormack
Peyton Place (1957) -- Hope Lange and Diane Varsi
Imitation of Life (1959) -- Susan Kohner and Juanita Moore
Tom Jones (1963) -- Diane Cilento, Edith Evans, and Joyce Redman
Othello (1965) -- Joyce Redman and Maggie Smith
Airport (1970) -- Helen Hayes and Maureen Stapleton
The Last Picture Show (1971) -- Ellen Burstyn and Cloris Leachman
Paper Moon (1973) -- Madeline Kahn and Tatum O'Neal
Nashville (1975) -- Ronee Blakley and Lily Tomlin
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) -- Jane Alexander and Meryl Streep
Tootsie (1982) -- Teri Garr and Jessica Lange
The Color Purple (1985) -- Margaret Avery and Oprah Winfrey
Working Girl (1988) -- Joan Cusack and Sigourney Weaver
Enemies, A Love Story (1989) -- Anjelica Huston and Lena Olin
Bullets over Broadway (1994) -- Jennifer Tilly and Dianne Wiest
Almost Famous (2000) -- Kate Hudson and Frances McDormand
Gosford Park (2001) -- Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith
Chicago (2002) -- Queen Latifah and Catherine Zeta-Jones
Babel (2006) -- Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi
Doubt (2008) -- Amy Adams and Viola Davis
Up in the Air (2009) -- Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick
The Fighter (2010) -- Amy Adams and Melissa Leo
The Help (2011) -- Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer
The Favourite (2018) -- Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) -- Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu
Multiple character nominations
Winners are in bold.
Anita from West Side Story (Rita Moreno, 1961) & West Side Story (Ariana DeBose, 2021)
Thus far, this is the only instance of the same character producing two nominated (and subsequently winning) performances within this particular same category.
See also
All Academy Award acting nominees
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female
Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
References
Bibliography
External links
Oscars.org (official Academy site)
Oscar.com (official ceremony promotional site)
The Academy Awards Database (official site)
Academy Awards
Film awards for supporting actress